


Reminiscing

by prsseux



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M, Pein is only mentioned tbh, so is Tsunade, this is mostly headcanons lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 05:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14157324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prsseux/pseuds/prsseux
Summary: He had been given many titles during his life as a shinobi, and yet they all referenced his strengths as a weapon of the village. None of them talked about the true Orochimaru.





	Reminiscing

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first work for this fandom, but I just had a lot of feelings and Orochimaru is my fave so I decided to write this. It is worth reminding that this is canon divergent, that I have no idea of what a timeline is and that most of the content is based on my own headcanons for Orochimaru. I do hope you'll enjoy this. Don't forget to leave comments and all of that. 
> 
> \- Lua

Orochimaru had always been gentle. From his very early years that he had no memory of to when he truly became a shinobi, that gentleness never left him. He was soft spoken, quiet and normally quite amicable even if he preferred not to talk much.

He had no reason to be rude to people who hadn’t done anything to him. The snake master had always thought that way - which was why he would never understand how people came up with the absurd rumours about him.

Still, very much like his teammates, Orochimaru was good. He tried his best to be a good shinobi, to be a good protector of the village - even if he did not understand empathy very well, nor did he know how to deal with most emotions, which caused him to have some frowned upon strategies and opinions, the black haired male tried his best to be understanding and tried his best to keep an open mind.

Also something that people would never attribute to him was his love for kids. Orochimaru adored children - not in a creepy way, mind you. To him children were the purest beings, they were just so eager to learn - maybe not the boring things taught at the academy but about the world around them - they soaked up knowledge in a fantastic way, something that marvelled the snake sage.

Tsunade and Jiraiya also loved children, their bright and loud personalities were a beacon to the little ones. However, not all children were comfortable with those personalities, which is why Orochimaru was always picked to talk to the traumatised children they found during missions, he was the one to reach out to them, with his careful steps and soft voice the sannin managed to calm down those poor children and bring them to safety. Albeit having to carry them himself, because the children refused to be picked up by his loud teammates.

The snake sage was a scientist, a madman - he had been given many titles during his life as a shinobi, and yet they all referenced his strengths as a weapon of the village. None of them talked about the true Orochimaru - the boy who as a toddler walked through corpses and corpses, including his parents’, to get to Konoha, the boy who was shunned for his appearance, his language and for his intelligence, the boy who grew up to be a man feared by the people he should trust and protect.

 

He covered his resentment with detachment and cruelty, so much so that he began to lose himself amongst those feelings.

 

He used his feelings for death to fuel his experiments and studies. Orochimaru did not fear death but he found it to be a disappointing end to life. Dying took away your chances of learning more, of experiencing more of the world, of learning new things through the passing of time and changing of generations.

So he set off in search of immortality.

Orochimaru didn’t seek immortality just for himself - no, he sought it for Jiraiya and Tsunade as well. So Jiraiya could continue writing his books, so he could continue to spread happiness and peace throughout the lands. He sought it so Tsunade could carry out the name of her clan, so she could continue to be the best shinobi healer, so she could continue to save lives and beat the crap out of anyone who doubted her strength.

He wanted them to be together. So they could be the Legendary Sannin for all eternity.

But they did not want that, did not understand that the end justifies the means. And so they chased him out of the village, like he was a dog, a criminal.

And once again Orochimaru found himself with no home. He however, did not cry. There was no point in weeping for something like that. He had been bred for war, at the age of three he had seen his parents be murdered, had walked himself to safety. He was strong. He would survive.

 

And survive he did.

 

Creating a hidden village was not as hard as he thought it would be. Neither was acquiring followers, nor money. He built a village with people like him - people who had been cast out, thrown aside for having different ideals.

He offered them a place to call home, safety and food and a prospect of life. They loved him for it, but they also feared him. Orochimaru did not mind being feared, as long as they did what they were told and did not meddle with his experiments, he really did not care what the people thought of him.

He trained shinobi with the help of Kabuto - one of the first children he had recruited. A great little apprentice, and a loyal servant. Orochimaru knew Kabuto was unhealthily attached to him, he also knew that in the future the boy would end up getting hurt because of it, but for now that attachment worked great for Orochimaru and his plans.

He continued to experiment, unravelling forbidden jutsus, jumping from vessel to vessel, growing stronger and simultaneously weaker. Pursuing kekkei genkais, collecting more orphans who grew attached to him only to find out they were means to an end.

Still, despite using those children for his experiments, Orochimaru was a man of his word. He had promised each and every single one of those kids, the moment he had found them, that he would protect them. That he would give them a home. And he did. It wasn’t a conventional home, but it was a place they could call their own.

He was never too cruel with them - at least no more than necessary for him to hit his goal. And he quite liked some of them. Little Kimimaro and Juugo had carved themselves a special place in the sannin’s heart.

Uchiha Sasuke came along but by then, Orochimaru was almost achieving his goal.

 

Immortality was so close he could almost taste it.

 

Being so close yet so far from his ultimate goal drove the Sannin into a fit of madness - he made many mistakes throughout that time. And he would always feel ashamed by his lack of control.

Still like with all things, time made it better. And Orochimaru got rid of his madness, his obsession for those blood-red eyes and the power he thought they could grant him.

 

And then the war came.

 

He had had no interest in joining Akatsuki’s search for world peace - Nagato, or Pein as he now called himself, had been driven mad by the pain and loss. Orochimaru could sympathise, but that didn’t mean he would join him.

So he closed his village off. To protect his people - to keep his promise. Otogakure would not take part into this petty, senseless war.

He wondered then, where was Jiraya and what would he do faced with this new war. The answer was obvious, both his former teammates would fight to the death in order to protect those they held most dear. He used to be one of those people once. Now, they would probably kill him on sight.

 

It was during a quick trip to Ame that Orochimaru realised fate did not let people walk out on its plans.

Political meetings happened a lot - specially after he made it clear that Otogakure was going to remain neutral during the fourth war. He was surprised to be summoned by the fake ruler of Ame, but decided that it wouldn’t do well to decline the invitation.

 

He didn’t expect to run into a battle on his way out.

 

He didn’t expect to save his once best friend - Jiraiya meant much more than that to Orochimaru now. The snake Sannin had never really known love, but he could say with certainty that he loved Jiraiya with all his heart.

Watching Pein and his six paths almost killing Jiraiya did something to him - he hadn’t planned on intervening, told himself he was past the times where he would help those who cast him aside. But once he came to himself he was already fighting.

Unleashing his power into a battle that was not even his - and to his surprise, Pein backed out. He had not foreseen having to fight against two Sannins. And Orochimaru was clever, he had worked for the younger male before, he knew his strategies.

Once he was left alone with the toad sage, the dark haired male allowed himself to break. Falling to his knees next to the beaten white haired man.

“You fool! What were you thinking?!” He whispered, his husky voice strangled as he came to the realisation that the love of his life could have died had he not helped him. “What would I do if you died, báichī!?”

As usual, when emotions became too much for him, Orochimaru tented to forgo Japanese in order to speak his mother’s native tongue. A language he used for when he felt emotional and vulnerable.

He busied himself with healing the man enough for him not to die before someone came to his aid. Orochimaru had been so focused that he hadn’t seen the man’s summon sneaking behind him. Which is why he was startled by the toad’s words.

“Thank you...”

The snake sage turned around in a flash, his golden eyes blazing - ready to fight whatever enemy appeared. The flames in his beautiful eyes died down when he noticed the tired toad.

“Fukasaku-san...” he whispered, remembering the name of the elder toad with ease. “Do not thank me yet, this idiot is not fully healed”

“Still, you didn’t have to save him, kid.” The frog groaned, making his way to his master. “Jiraiya-chan would be dead if it weren’t for you”

“I know.” Orochimaru replies, getting up and taking a deep breath. He had been dragged into this war because of Love - how pitiful of him. “Keep him safe please, he may not see me as such anymore, but him and Tsunade are still important to me”

 

With that the snake sage left.

 

Now that the war was about to begin, Orochimaru pushed himself to achieve his immortality. Many things happened in the way, including his pseudo-death which then finally gave him what he wanted.

 

He could no longer die.

 

The war came crashing down on them - bringing back ghosts of the past, and watering the land with blood, pain and sorrow. He did what he could to keep those important to him safe. Healing Tsunade and the Kages, watching over team Taka from afar, just as he watched over Jiraiya.

After the misleading land of dreams where the world had been trapped was broken, they were left to deal once more with the aftermath of a gruesome battle. The Legendary Sannin had dealt with such since they were children, so to them it was almost normal.

Orochimaru has been granted forgiveness for his crimes - without his help in the war there would have been many more casualties including the death of the Kages. He truly did not see what he did as crimes but he would not argue.

He was allowed to live in Konoha, and to restart his life there along with his former teammates. Orochimaru took his chance - leaving Otogakure in the hands of Kabuto. He looked forward to what the future would bring him.

 

A few years had passed now. The village was fully reconstructed, no signs of the war to be seen anymore. Things were as peaceful as they could be. And while Orochimaru was not one to trust this peacefulness, he allowed himself to enjoy it as long as it would last.

 

“You think too much...” a deep voice spoke next to him, low and coated with sleep.

The snake sage chuckled, turning around in the bed to look at his sleepy lover. “I was reminiscing” he explained, his own husky voice still affected by sleep as well.

“Yeah well, your reminiscing woke me up” while his face was hidden, Orochimaru could hear the pout on his lovers’ voice.

He laughed, shaking his head. Being with the other always felt like they were teenagers again. “I’m sorry, àirēn”

The other man hummed, and pulled the smaller closer to him. Cuddling the snake sage and making him smile even brighter.

 

Suddenly, both men were able to hear tiny footsteps running in the direction of their room.

 

“He’s coming...” the taller male chucked, still sounding as sleepy as he did minutes ago, but the warmth and fondness in his voice were almost overwhelming.

“Yes, I can hear him too.” Soon enough a light, soft and sweet voice was heard as a blur of baby blue hair jumped onto their bed.

 

“Bàba!!”

 

“Good morning to you too, Mitsuki”

 

Orochimaru laughed, taking his son into his arms and cuddling him close. He couldn’t believe that this little boy, this little miracle was his. His son. His baby. And he got to raise him with the help of the man he loved.

“It’s morning bàba, why isn’t chichiue up yet?” The boy asked, soft honey coloured eyes staring at Orochimaru’s much brighter ones.

Taking his change the dark haired male said. “Well, I’ve told you before, love. Jiraiya is old, he needs to sleep more than both of us.”

Knowing that the retaliation for this particular jab would be severe and come quick, Orochimaru gathered his son in his arms and got up, moving out of the door fast enough to escape a very smiley Jiraiya.

“Come back here you snake bastard, I’ll show both of you who’s old!” The white haired male screamed running after the two most important people in his life.

 

“Only if you manage to catch us, old man!” Orochimaru screamed back, trying to stifle his giggles, while Mitsuki squealed.

 

“Run, bàba! He’s going to catch us!”

 

And to anyone who saw them now, they’d never think that Orochimaru - the snake demon, the madman, the monster, and Jiraiya - the pervert, the writer, the peace bringer, would make such a happy family.

**Author's Note:**

> So, what did you think? I hope this was as fun to read as it was to write. Anyway, I wanted to mention that in my headcanon Orochimaru is Chinese-Japanese which is why there are a few Chinese words in there. However, I don’t speak Chinese so if there are any mistakes or if the meanings of these words are wrong please let me know so I can correct them. I do hope you guys enjoyed this, I needed to write a bit of JiraOro + baby Mitsuki cuteness or else my life wouldn't be complete. 
> 
> See you all soon. 
> 
> \- Lua 
> 
> • glossary • 
> 
> 白痴 ( báichī ) - idiot  
> 爱人 ( àirēn ) - sweetheart  
> 爸爸 ( bàba ) - father  
> 父上 ( chichiue ) - father [ japanese ]


End file.
